She reported the girl's name.
She hoped to increase her favorability.
With the words on the tip of her tongue, she didn't know exactly how to soothe the girl's emotions at that moment.
To tell a stranger directly that she would help her?
Would she really believe it?
As expected, upon hearing her name, Xu Yiran trembled even more violently, as if she was convinced Xia Che was a bad person.
She quickly got up and stumbled away in the other direction from the alley entrance.
Xia Che hurriedly gave chase, but once she was out of the alley, she found that the girl had already disappeared into the vast crowd.
She sighed, "Is there no possibility of communication at all?"
She felt helpless, yet she didn't want to give up.
The endless stream of traffic before her made Xia Che recall her "first encounter" with the girl a week ago.
A week ago, her condition suddenly worsened, and after being admitted to the hospital, she faced exorbitant medical fees. Walking and breathing became increasingly difficult, and simply staying alive was torture.
Perhaps… it would be better to just die.
When that thought arose, a small game suddenly appeared on her phone.
seven-day girlfriend.
As the name suggested, there was a cute girlfriend on her phone.
Care, concern, constant waiting—Xia Che only needed to open the game to see the girl obediently kneeling on the bed, with dialogue boxes containing emoticons popping up.
The game, therefore, became her solace.
What's more, this game had now become her hope for survival!
…
Third Playthrough
Waking up on the sofa again, Xia Che no longer rushed to the alley. Instead, she used the afternoon to understand the world within this game.
This place was no different from her real world.
Aside from her body becoming a girl, nothing else had changed, including her gambling father and her ex-girlfriend whom she had already broken up with.
The only difference was that, because her body was healthy, the in-game her lived a daily life of attending classes during the day and working part-time in the evening, rather than lying in a hospital all day.
Soon, evening arrived.
Xia Che had been waiting by the alley entrance early, pretending to be a passerby, waiting for the time to reach 6:00 PM.
As if to confirm the fact that the beginner's storyline couldn't be changed, precisely at 6 PM, a drunken, disheveled man predictably emerged from the corner and ducked into the alley.
Before long, Xia Che heard the girl's familiar "Don't come any closer."
Hero… or rather, heroine saving the beauty—this was precisely the plot segment in the beginner's tutorial where the girl is taken home.
The girl was probably wary of all strangers, whether it was her who was stabbed to death on the first contact, or her who failed to communicate last time; in the girl's eyes, both were dangerous.
But if there was an added filter of saving her from danger, it would be different.
Xia Che held her phone and then weighed the fruit knife she kept in her pocket for self-defense.
She stepped out.
"Stop!"
The trope was a bit old-fashioned, but the wind had already lifted the tip of Xia Che's beautiful and spirited ponytail.
The slightly plump, drunken man turned his head and immediately let out a sneer, "Oh! Another little chick, and you look even better!"
Xia Che's current body was 1.66 meters tall, curvaceous, and naturally had a good figure.
She merely glanced at the girl in the white dress, who was huddled in a corner, choosing self-preservation, and said coldly, "I've already called the police."
It was no different from the beginner's storyline.
Next, this drunkard would panic and run away.
Then he would return four days later as the plot's antagonist.
But what Xia Che didn't expect was that the drunken man not only didn't run, but instead walked lewdly towards her.
"Oh, oh, oh, calling the police? I'm so scared, I'm so scared. What kind of situations haven't I seen?!"
Perhaps it was the alcohol emboldening him, or perhaps it was seeing that Xia Che was just a girl.
The man directly stretched his arms forward and rushed up like a zombie in an apocalypse, seemingly wanting to directly tackle Xia Che to the ground.
However, he didn't notice the girl's gradually chilling gaze.
As the man approached, Xia Che suddenly executed an agile turn, easily dodging his tackle.
Immediately after, she extended a long leg, bending it, and used the opponent's forward momentum.
A knee strike directly to the groin!
"Ugh ah—!"
Only a 'crack' sound, like that of an egg shattering, accompanied the man's howl.
One hit, fatal!
Xia Che snorted coldly and kicked the man to the ground again, "Did you really think I hadn't trained?"
In the past, Xia Che had specifically learned some self-defense techniques from the retired old man in the park.
If the old man wasn't bragging, he must have been a Dragon King in his youth.
After knocking the man down, Xia Che didn't immediately look at the white-dressed girl who was already stunned in the corner. Instead, her expression was uncertain as she looked at the howling man on the ground.
This man's background setting was that of a thug from a certain gang, who had molested many students, including minors, causing multiple families to be ruined.
And later.
The man would return on the fourth day with a group of thugs.
In the first playthrough, Xu Yiran was injured by the thugs brought by this man. If Xia Che hadn't saved up some money and had the option to go to the hospital, the first playthrough would have already ended.
Should she let him go and leave future trouble?
Rather than that, why not… kill him!
Ever since her condition began to worsen, Xia Che had been battling with the Grim Reaper every single day. She was already more indifferent to life than others.
What's more, this was a game!
These NPCs were just strings of data.
And she had countless opportunities to start over at any time!
The girl's eyes turned cold, and she immediately pulled out the fruit knife she carried for self-defense from her pocket.
The flashes of cold light reflecting off it completely sobered the man, and he even began to tremble and beg for mercy.
"Wait… wait a minute, what do you want to do… I'll never dare again, never again, please don't—ah!!!"
The sound abruptly stopped.
The knife plunged into the man's heart, and bright red slowly crept out from the tip of the blade, spreading along the fabric of his outer coat, a brilliantly vibrant blood rose slowly blossoming.
Killing, it seemed, wasn't as terrifying as she had imagined.
Especially since the other party was a heinous person.
But when Xia Che came to her senses, the girl who had been hiding far away, and had even stabbed her to death once, had somehow run to her front.
Xia Che quickly got up and said to the girl, "You're fine… Hey, what are you doing!"
Before she could finish speaking, she saw the girl squatting beside the man, and with the fruit knife she also had for self-defense, she forcefully plunged it into the man's chest.
Drops of blood splattered, even hitting the girl's face.
Xia Che was dumbfounded; she had never imagined such a development.
She quickly pulled the girl aside, "Are you crazy or seeking revenge? He's already dead and you're still stabbing him!"
The girl lifted her small face, pursed her lips tightly, allowing drops of fresh blood to slide down her delicate cheeks.
Under her messy, ash-white bangs, her tear-stained eyes were filled with determination.
"I won't let you bear the responsibility alone."
Her voice was a little hoarse.
But Xia Che didn't understand what she meant: "What?"
"You… you saved me and killed someone, you'll get caught."
The girl sniffled, then forcefully wiped the blood from her cheek with her arm, "Now we are… accomplices."